You already have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and now you might have sleep apnea. It’s already hard enough to manage one chronic condition, so why should you worry about trying to manage another?
Impact of sleep apnea on diabetes
Untreated sleep apnea can make diabetes much worse. This is because sleep apnea pauses your breathing while you sleep, reducing oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in your blood. This can cause a whole host of problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and frequent morning headaches. But for diabetics, these changes can make matters worse by contributing to insulin resistance.
If you already have type 2 diabetes
In type 2 diabetes, you have too much sugar, also called glucose, in your blood. Food is broken down into glucose, which is then absorbed by the body’s cells and used for energy with the help of the hormone insulin. For people with type 2 diabetes, their cells are not able to properly use insulin, and therefore must use more insulin to get glucose into their cells. So, if your body cannot use insulin as well as a result of sleep apnea, you can more easily get high blood sugar levels that cause damage to your nerves and organs.
If you’re at risk for type 2 diabetes
Also, for those who are only at risk for diabetes, poor sleep from sleep apnea can put you at a greater risk of developing the disease. In addition to making you crave carbohydrates and sugar-loaded foods, endocrinologist Mary Vouyiouklis Kellis, MD, says that a lack of sleep can make you less likely to want to exercise or plan meals, resulting in weight gain and higher diabetes risk.
So, if you have diabetes or are just at risk, treating sleep apnea is a win-win situation, giving you better sleep and preventing /improving your diabetes.